Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos believes his side is ready to withstand the pressure that awaits it at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
South Africa claimed the bronze medal at the last edition of the tournament in Côte d’Ivoire, much to the surprise of many. The team’s success has continued, with the nation claiming its spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in October.
Broos believes that Bafana Bafana now has a target on its back and that his team are expected to perform, placing more pressure on the team than the last edition where, frankly, not much was expected of it.
South Africa defeated Ghana’s team of home-based players, the Black Galaxies, 1-0 at Dobsonville Stadium on Tuesday. Broos, while happy with the result, noted that his team’s performance must improve before facing Angola in their tournament opener on Monday.
“I think as many times, a game a few days before a big tournament is sometimes not the game you want to see. I’m happy with the result. It’s always better to go to Morocco with a victory than with a draw or, in the worst case, defeat. But I think that we can do much better than today,” he said.
The former Belgian international is well aware of the challenge that awaits South Africa, noting that this year’s edition will be tougher than the last.
“It’s a very tough tournament, a very tough tournament, because every team is 150% motivated. And for African players, this is the scene where they can show their qualities, where they can maybe create a transfer to maybe an European club or whatever. So they are super motivated.
“And now, this year, it’s a very tough tournament because the teams are very tough. There are very good teams in that tournament. And it’s not anymore like two years ago where you could say, okay, this team will never survive the group stages. There are not so many teams anymore. So in every group, it will be war. And it’s up to us to be ready for that.”
He believes that his side is more than equipped to deal with the pressure of the continental tournament and perform at their best level.
“I agree that next week, Monday, when the game starts against Angola, that the pressure will be a little bit higher than two years ago when we played against Mali,” said Broos.
“I think this team can resist that pressure. We showed it in the qualifiers for the World Cup. There were some very important games under pressure that we did very good. Think about the game at home against Nigeria, think about the last game against Rwanda. So this team has experience. I’m not worried about that, but we will see and we will feel that opponents will play in a totally different way than they did two years ago.”
Bafana Bafana will travel to Morocco on Wednesday to prepare for their opening game against Angola at the Stade de Marrakech on Monday.
